Your next coliving home, built to run without you.
Then managed free for 6 months.
You found the deal. We take it from contract to listed: inspection, underwriting, floorplan, build-out, furnishing, install, media, listing. One team, one price, already run on 700+ rooms.
Most coliving homes lose their first year in the first 90 days.
Not because the deal was bad. Because the setup was.
One fridge for eight adults. Hollow bedroom doors. Furniture bought in a hurry that breaks by month four. Nobody knows where the sewer clean-out is until everyone needs to. Phone photos, so the rooms sit empty while the mortgage does not.
We manage homes set up both ways, so we can put numbers on it. About 30% of homes set up without a system hit a major problem in year one, and those homes run around $2,000 a month in fixes before they settle. A Machine home runs about $200 a month from the start.
One client furnished a home and started renting rooms. Eight months in, the cast-iron drain line failed under the slab. About $15,000 to replumb, plus rent credits, plus two tenants who left. A full-system inspection would have caught it before closing and put that number into the purchase negotiation instead of on his credit card.
Could you do this yourself?
Yes. And you will spend your time and your money learning the hard way what we already know. We manage homes where the owner did the setup themselves, and they carry higher operating costs from decisions made without the experience to make them. In the worst cases the losses are large. That is not a knock on the owner. It is what a first home costs when the person setting it up has done it once. Ours has been done 700 times.
| Your first home, DIY | Machine System | |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection | Standard report. Coliving systems and kitchen never checked. | Enhanced inspection built around eight adults using the house. |
| Underwriting | A spreadsheet from a YouTube video. | The model we use to buy our own homes, plus zoning, insurance, parking, transit. |
| Layout and sound | Inherited floorplan. Hollow doors. One fridge. | Redrawn plan with fridges, storage, tech, and sound treatment marked before drywall. |
| Furnishing | Whatever is in stock, bought twice. | Spec'd list with links and quantities. Bought once. |
| Install | Your weekends, or a handyman with no plan. | Codie Thompson and a crew, from the placement map. |
| Media and listing | Phone photos. Listing written at 11pm. | Pro photos, video, 3D tour, and pricing from people who price rooms weekly. |
| Year-one maintenance | About $2,000/month | About $200/month |
| Your hours | Hundreds, mostly learning | A handful of meetings |
Ten components. One team. Contract to first check.
Open any item for the full scope. Every component is also available on its own; the standalone prices are inside each item and on the component detail page.
01Coliving-grade property inspectionEvery system, every physical element, sewer scope, kitchen review, measured floorplan
We hire the inspector, or work with yours, and push the inspection well past the standard report: HVAC, electrical, plumbing supply and drain with a sewer camera scope, roof, foundation, windows, drainage. We produce a measured floorplan and do a dedicated review of the kitchen, because the kitchen is where coliving homes succeed or fail. You get the full report, the scope video, and a plain-English summary of what matters for eight adults living here.
02Property analysis and underwritingRoom-by-room revenue, real expense model, zoning, HOA, insurance, go or no-go
Revenue by room against live comps in your submarket. An expense model built from our own portfolio's actuals. Zoning and unrelated-adult ordinance pulled in writing. HOA and CC&R search. Insurance classification checked so the binder matches the bedroom count. Parking, transit, and nearby jobs. It ends with a go or no-go recommendation and a walk-away number for your negotiation. This is the analysis that would have caught the $15,000 drain line.
03Floorplan review and recommended layoutFridges, storage, cameras, wifi, locks, outlets, and sound treatment marked before drywall
We take the floorplan from the inspection (or yours) and redraw it for maximum utility: where the second and third fridges go, where cabinets and individual storage get added, camera positions, wifi nodes, lock gateways, extra outlets, and which walls and doors get insulation or solid cores so sound stays in the room it started in. Delivered as a marked-up plan your GC can bid from.
04General contractor consultation and build supportFixtures and finishes spec'd with your GC, three follow-up sessions, final shutoff map
We sit down with you and your GC to walk the plan and specify fixtures and finishes: locks, ceiling fans, outlets, lighting, flooring that survives eight people. Then up to three more consultations during the build for the questions that come up once walls are open. At the end you get a final build-out floorplan with the water and gas shutoffs, sewer clean-out, breaker panel, attic access, and router location marked.
05Furniture placement mappingA dimensioned, room-by-room plan for every piece, plus the install sequence
Bed orientation for door and outlet clearance. Desk and storage placement per room. Appliances positioned to the floorplan. Then a delivery staging and install sequence so the crew works in one pass. The same map becomes the photographer's shot list.
06Furnishings and tech purchase listEvery item, every room, with quantities, current pricing, and a link to buy
Beds, mattresses, fans, locks, cameras, wifi, appliances, window coverings, down to the trash cans, drawn from the products we have already broken and replaced across 700 rooms. You place the orders and get them on site; we make sure you are buying the right things once.
07Assembly, installation, and Machine systems setupCodie on site with a crew. Accounts, utilities, house rules, vendor bench, owner's binder
Everything assembled and installed from the placement map. Then the systems that make it a Machine home: smart-lock, camera, and wifi accounts in your name; utilities and internet provisioned; house rules and lease addendum from our library; a tenant house manual; a Tier 1 cleaner, Tier 2 plumber and electrician, and Tier 3 emergency contact sourced for this address before the first tenant; and an owner's binder with the shutoff map, every login, every warranty, every vendor.
08Photography, video, and 3D walkthroughStaged from the placement map, shot by a pro, delivered organized
A professional photographer stages the home and shoots stills of every room and common area, a walkthrough video, and a 3D tour. We manage the shoot, check coverage against the shot list, and deliver everything named and organized so it drops straight into listings and ads.
09Property listing and pricingListing copy, room pricing from live comps, PadSplit or up to two other platforms
Listing copy written by people who fill rooms for a living. Room prices set from live comps and our portfolio data, with a strategy for opening rates versus stabilized rates. Set up on PadSplit, or on up to two other platforms you choose. Then a pricing review 30 days after launch.
10Supporting adsReady-to-run creatives and copy, posting schedule, and the local groups that produce applicants
A set of creatives built from the shoot in feed, story, and group-post formats, the copy for each, a posting schedule, and the list of local groups and pages that actually produce applicants in your market. For you and your manager to keep the listing full after launch.
Bought separately, the ten components come to $25,250. As one system they are $20,000, and only the full system includes the six free months and the repair coverage.
All ten components, six months of management, and the first $1,000 of repairs. Four milestones below, or $19,000 paid in full at signing.
Custom furnishing and finish selections built to our operating specs, extra GC sessions for paint, millwork, and built-ins, and the install to match. The $7,500 covers her design time and the added coordination custom work takes. More on Liat below.
Four milestones that follow the project. Each one lands after you have seen the work.
Inspection, analysis, and the recommended floorplan. Everything you need to decide whether to close.
GC consultation and build support, the placement map, and the purchase list. Before closing on purpose, so your GC can bid from the plan and furniture arrives when the rehab finishes.
Codie's on-site install with the Machine systems, the vendor bench, the owner's binder, and the photo, video, and 3D shoot.
Listing, pricing strategy, and your supporting ads. Then the six free months of management begin.
That is what it takes for Codie to be on site and for the team to run your inspection and floorplan personally. When a month is full, you go on the next one.
In the $20,000
- All ten components, run by one team
- Inspector's fee and sewer scope
- Photographer, video, and 3D tour
- Install crew, Codie's travel and time on site
- Six months of Property Services and the first $1,000 of repairs
Paid separately
- The house
- Your general contractor and the rehab
- Furniture, appliances, and tech on the purchase list, at retail, no markup
How the price compares
A coliving conversion usually runs $60,000 to $100,000 in rehab and furnishing. An architect, a designer, and a project manager hired separately stack to 30 to 40 percent of that, from three firms that have never set up a coliving home. The Machine System is 20 to 30 percent, from one team that has done it 700 times, hard costs included. Roughly 100 hours of skilled work for about $200 an hour.
Six months of free management and the first $1,000 of repairs.
The first six months of any coliving home are the roughest. That is when the wrong bed breaks, the wrong tenant gets in, and the owner learns what they did not know. So when you buy the complete Machine System, we run the property for six months at no charge, a $2,100 value: screening, vendors, maintenance, tenant issues, pricing, ads. And if anything needs repairing, upgrading, or replacing in that window, for any reason, we cover the first $1,000.
We can do that because homes set up this way do not generate the problems that make management expensive. If we are wrong, it costs us, not you. After six months, most owners keep us on at the standard $350 a month.
This is for you if
- You have a property under contract, or will within 30 days
- You want the home built for coliving the first time, not retrofitted after a bad year
- You plan to own more than one, and want a setup you can repeat
- You would rather pay a team that has done this 700 times than learn each lesson on your own money
This is not for you if
- You are still hunting for a property (book a call and we will tell you what to look for)
- You want to source furniture on price alone and figure the rest out later
- You need a manager for a home that is already set up (see Property Services)
- You want someone to buy the property for you
Operators, not a call center.
David Edwards
Operating coliving homes for more than five years. Oversees 700+ rooms across a dozen-plus cities in multiple states, owns coliving properties himself, and manages for other investors. The systems on this page are the ones his team uses every week.
- Main stagespeaker at the Co-Living Conference, Denver, every year
- ElectedCoLiving Advisor and member of the CoLiving Council
- 9,400+members in the CoLiving Operations Facebook group, 600+ in the Skool community
- Publisherof The CoLiving Edit
Codie Thompson
Codie flies to your property, runs the assembly and installation with a local crew, and applies the Machine systems herself: locks, cameras, wifi, house rules, vendor bench, owner's binder. Same person, same process, every home. She is the reason we cap at five a month.
Liat Siegel
An interior designer whose work aligns closely with CoLiving Operations specs. She designs for return, not for a magazine: selections that hold up to eight adults, look like the place people choose over the listing next door, and still follow every operational rule in our system.
What the $7,500 Design tier covers
- Custom furnishing and finish selections on our operating specs
- Extra GC consultations for paint, built-ins, and custom details
- Install and placement adjusted for the custom pieces
- Media that shows a designed home
What it looks like from the other side.
"Working with CoLiving Operations our properties are now actually making money for us and we have our time back!"
"We didn't initially apply all of the recommended furniture that CoLiving Operations has. We've had to replace a dozen beds at high expense as a result, replacing them with the recommended items. CoLiving Operations knows what they are talking about. Please listen to them, you will save money and headaches."
"We tried taking management on ourselves. A year later, with low occupancy and bad tenants, we went back to CoLiving Operations. They have cleared out the rabble and are making great progress on turning our properties around. Work with those who know things. We have big plans and CoLiving Operations is an integral part of them."
The ones we get on every call.
Do I have to be under contract to start?
Can I buy just a few components?
What if the inspection says the property is a bad idea?
Who pays for the furniture and the contractor?
Do you guarantee the rooms will fill?
Do you work in my market?
Tell us about the property. Then book your free 30-minute call.
Two minutes on the form. If it is a fit, you get a link to pick a time with the team right away. If it is not, we will tell you that too, and point you somewhere useful.
- No cost, no obligation
- You talk to operators, not a sales rep
- You leave the call with a timeline whether or not you hire us